n August 24, 2006, then Justice Minister Frances Johnson-Morris, in a letter to President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf raised some red flags about the now nagging dilemma facing the Unity Party-led government. Johnson-Morris wrote:
“The language of the quoted Article II above leaves no doubt as to timeframe given to LAC to determine land areas suitable for its operation with the borders of the land placed at its disposal i.e. (a) the land lying between St. John River and the Cestos River South of Compound No. 3, Grand Bassa County and including approximately 300,000 acres and (b) a section of the lands situated along the Tappita-Webo Road and including approximately 300,000 acres.
Warning sign I: Johnson-Morris Raises Red Flag
The Article II cited by the then Justice Minister stipulates that “the Corporation will not request that the Government evacuate villages existing within the Development Areas unless such villages or their inhabitants impede the operations of the Corporation under this Concession.” The article continues: “In order to facilitate such selection of lands, others may not acquire title to national or public lands within said areas between the date first hereinabove written and the filing of such surveys. The Government warrants that within the above-mentioned Concession Areas no other concession or right of any kind will be granted to any third party and that it will defend and protect the Concession Areas for the sole and exclusive use of [the] Corporation.”
 RED FLAG RAISED |
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“Therefore, the eviction of the citizens from their village and the expansion of LAC are arbitrary as it is not supported by the Agreement.”
FRANCES JOHNSON-MORRIS, FORMER MINISTER OF JUSTICE, RL |
The Agreement also clearly indicates that one becomes a “squatter” only if s/he settles on an area after it becomes a “Development Area”. That is settling within the Concession Areas would not make one a squatter unless LAC has previously selected the area as a Development Area.”
For Johnson-Morris, the LAC agreement was given 18 months to make that determination -with regards to the land suitable for its development operations but the time had since expired. Thus, Morris recommended the following: “Therefore, the eviction of the citizens from their village and the expansion of LAC are arbitrary as it is not supported by the Agreement.”
Morris explained that her suggestions did not mean that LAC would forfeit 300,000 acres of land remaining under the agreement to be possessed. But rather it meant that LAC must now negotiate to get the portion of land in question which it failed to select within the timeframe allowed under the agreement.
“It is unreasonable,” the minister concluded, “that the parties intended that the population growth, migration, or development would have remained stagnant for 40 or more years pending the selection of land arrears by LAC for its development operations.”
In the wake of this new revelation, the latest agreement for resettlement which has since herald a wave of events over the past week appears to raise two constitutional issues. (1) Article 16 prohibits the interference with the privacy of one's person, family or home without a court order. Thus, challengers to the government and LAC claim suggests the dwellers cannot be evicted without an order from the court. The executive branch and a multinational company cannot decide to evict people without a court order, no matter how many schools or hospitals they build. (2) Article 24, as to the whole and its subparts, requires that private property cannot be expropriated for a public purpose without just compensation. The land should be appraised and payment made to the people for the fair market value of land including crops and improvements. The government might argue that these people do not own the land in *fee simple,* so that Article 24 may not apply. In that case internationally recognized laws and conventions on the rights of indigenous people to their ancestral homelands will apply. The government and LAC negotiate with the tribal leaders and elders and a referendum be held for the people to accept or reject the framework agreement.
Warning Sign II: Elders Claim Toe not ‘Honest Broker’
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| Agriculture Minister, Dr. J. Chris. Toe |
More complicating for the LAC negotiations was the lack of trust in Agriculture Minister Dr. Chris Toe. In a letter to Toe, the elders wrote: “Specifically, we want to remind you that your actions since representatives of the Resilient Council of Elders met with President Sirleaf at her invitation on September 7, 2006, and following the issuance of the Joint Statement by you and the elders, you have mistaken the President’ instructions to begin and terminate with the promotion of LAC’s expansion and the consequent eviction of the native people from their ancestral homeland.
According to the elders, Sirleaf’s decision, written into the aforesaid Joint Statement, was inter alia, there should be no eviction. The President, according to the elders, said, that LAC and the people should first meet, under your auspices, to build confidence and then explore how each could come out of the arrangements satisfied. Among the meetings called was one at Korkor David Town. Only native people from the affected area spoke, and you may well recall that the consistency of their views, to wit that LAC was, despite the President’s decision and instructions, pursuing its evictions and maltreating the people.”
The elders claimed that Toe and his staffers had held many meetings with LAC without the elders, drawing suspicions about the minister and further raising doubts about his ability to serve as an objective link between LAC and the villagers.
Warning Sign III: Ghosts of ’04 Raid comes full circle
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| The Late Bruno Michiels |
To date it is still not clear whether last week’s killing of Belgian expatriate and LAC manager Bruno MIchiels in cold blood was related to uneasiness over the LAC deal or internal struggle within LAC. But the recent confusion following Bruno’s death is not the first to bring a divide between villagers and LAC management. Back in 2004 during the National Transitional Government of Charles Gyude Bryant, LAC began another effort occupy land settled by villagers, forcibly seizing land from the residents in the area. Elders complained to the NTGL government through Superintendent Robert T. Vonyeegar, but to no avail. “We made another appeal in a letter to NTGL chair Charles Gyude Bryant through the Bassa Legislative Caucus. The chairman reportedly failed to acknowledge the receipt of the letter, the elders would later write in a letter to Bryant’s successor President Sirleaf.
The elders said that to their disappointment, Superintendent Vonyeegar, upon order of the then Justice Minister Kabineh Janeh led an array of riot police, which invaded towns and villages in District No. 4. “In spite of the fact that District No. 4 is on the other side of the LAC plantation beyond the “Slo River”, they seized 93 innocent elders, chiefs and other community leaders, children and the community’s “masks dancer” commonly known as the “Country Devil”. Those arrested were beaten, stripped half naked and detained in LAC’s cell for two days with no food. Later, they were transported to Buchannan and Chunked into a 1-ft x 12 ft. police cell.”
Nearly three years later, it appears the ghost of 2004 has returned. Last week, Dr. Byron Tarr, one of several opposition players being accused of playing a role in Bruno’s death issued a statement questioning whether the Government of Liberia or the UN Mission in Liberia had delegated security functions to LAC in the same fashion of the raid of ’04. “We want to know if the UNMIL and or GOL have delegated the security functions to LAC,” Mr. Tarr queried.
According to Tarr, during the late afternoon and early evening of Thursday, November 22, 2007, a gang of men under the command of a Mr. Prince Sarnou, said to be a senior LAC personnel in the corporation’s Plant Protection Department, entered several villages in Gianda Clan, District No. 4. "In Garpue Town, reportedly one of the Twelve Villages from which LAC and officials of the Government of Liberia seek to evict the native people unlawfully to plant rubber trees, the LAC operatives using single barrel guns, shot and wounded Samuel Garpue, a youngster in the town."
Tarr continued that in another town, Kparaduah, another of the Twelve Villages, the marauders entered the village, shooting, and arrested several men, including his brother, George Z. Tarr, dragged the men into their pickups. The whereabouts of the men are unknown. "Early this morning, Friday, November 23, 2007, the gang entered the compound of the Zondo Public School, the only school in the District. Tarr says according to information provided by telephone from villagers as they fled, the school is being ravaged and all males are being arrested."
The Family of Hope, Inc., a U.S. non-profit organization, provides funding for the school in Zondo, Grand Bassa County, Liberia has since issued a statement expressing deep concerns over the disappearance of Zondo School Principal Arthur Crusoe who has allegedly been severely beaten and detained. “His whereabouts are currently unknown and we fear for his life. We call on Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Justice Minister Philip A. Z. Banks to ensure Mr. Crusoe’s safety and the safety of the other people from District #4 who are reportedly still missing,” the group wrote, adding that the Zondo school stands as a symbol of the remarkable commitment of the Zondo community to the improvement of the village and the education of the children there. “Our hearts break for the children who may have witnessed atrocities in what should be, for them, a safe haven.”
For Tarr, persistent reports over the past week express fears for the lives of those in LAC custody. "The men and boys are being tortured, humiliated and brutalized by LAC security personnel. The citizens of District No. 4 consider these and other unwholesome activities that are ongoing in the district as declaration of war against peaceful citizens by LAC. We have reported these ugly incidents by email to Mr. Allan Doss this morning, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative."
Boiling Point: Expatriate Killed, chaos follows
Besides Tarr, Liberty Party’s First Partisan Cllr. Charles Brumskine, the head of the Bassa Resilience Council of Elders, Dr. Abba Karnga, Grand Bassa County Districts #3 and 4 Representatives Gabriel Smith and Byron Brown and another citizen of the county, Bob Smith have also been accused of sparking the unrest. A flier distributed in Buchanan last week, titled: “The Movement for the Exposure of the Assets of Evil in Grand Bassa County” described the individuals as evil geniuses in the county who want to obstruct development in the county.
According to the leaflet, the named individuals made threatening statements against LAC’s expansion project and admonished the citizens of the county to resist it; this was prior to the shooting of the LAC Plantations Manager Bruno Michiels. However, Grand Bassa County Superintendent Julia Duncan Cassell expressed serious concern about the circulated leaflet. She said this kind of anonymous undertaking was not in the interest of the county.
Warning Sign IV: Controversial MOU signed
Complicating the lack of trust for the Agriculture Minister is new information reaching FPA that Johnson-Morris may not be the only minister left in the dark on LAC contract signed recently or what Toe and Internal Affairs Minister A.B. Johnson are now calling a Memorandum of Understanding. Finance Minister Dr. Antoinette Sayeh and Lands and Mines Minister Dr. Eugene Shannon are also said to be unaware that an agreement was signed, raising questions about the motives behind the two ministers.
Amid the concerns, another theory being funneled around suggests that Ministers Toe and Johnson may have gone the route of the memorandum of understanding because they did not want to go through the legislature, fearing it would be a hard sell.
Theories complicating saga
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| George Mensah, General Manager, Liberian Agriculture Company says he was grooming Bruno Michiels to replace him. FPA has learned that investigators are exploring an internal struggle within LAC which may have factor in Bruno Michaels death. |
In the wake of the latest concession controversy to befall Liberia, critics of the current and previous governments lament that none of these concession agreements have given any long term benefits to the people, but they derive huge dividends for the multinational corporations and the Monrovia settler class.
Government sources confided to FPA Saturday that investigators are also looking into the possibility that Bruno’s death may have been the result of an internal struggle at LAC, possibly one between the Ghanaian manager, George Mensah and Bruno. But the possibility here may be a long one to decipher.
During a funeral for Bruno in Monrovia last General manager Mensah attributed the successes of LAC during the last five years to the hard work and professionalism of the deceased Plantation Manager Michiels. Mensah went as far as to add that he was grooming the Belgian to replace him as general manager in the future but because he said he wanted more experience before assuming the general manager position, the head office has to look elsewhere for his possible successor. Michiel, 36, joined the LAC family in 2001 from a sisterly company of LAC in the Ivory Coast. Before then, the late Michiel who held a Masters Degree in Agronomy from one of the best Agriculture University in Belgium lived in Benin where he was head of the Department of Agronomy at the University of Cotonou. A spokesperson of LAC hinted that the late Bruno Michiel was highly committed, and his commitment has increased LAC plantation from 28,000 acres to 36,000 acres which is the present size of the plantation.
But some investigative sources suggest otherwise, indicating that Bruno was on the verge of replacing Mensah as manager.
Unanswered questions fueling debate
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| Internal Affairs Minister A.B. Johnson |
In the aftermath of the Toe-Johnson-inspired LAC signing, some observers have also raised flags over the signing of the agreement. For example, the date that the document was signed by the LAC General Manager and the date of the rest of the "GOL Officials varied, leaving many to wonder who prepared the document? Was it LAC for herself or the Government of Liberia and if it was the Government of Liberia, which agency or ministry of government prepared it?
A central point for point being raised is that the document which is a legal document between the Government of Liberia and the Liberia Agriculture Company was never attested by the Ministry of Justice, the Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy or the Minister of Finance, but the senior Senior Senator of Grand Bassa County. Not a single representative from the county consented to the deal. At least six Legislators represent Grand Bassa County in the House of Representatives.
Representative Brown, in an interview with FPA last week wondered why the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. J. Chris Toe, not consult the Resilient Council of Elders with whom the President had him signed a joint Press Statement on the issue of LAC and the Native People of Bassa, back in 2006. “Why was an agreement between the Executive Branch of Government and LAC, which was signed by the Minister of Agriculture, Chris Toe, Minister of Internal Affairs, Ambullai Johnson, had to be attested to by Senator Findley, instead of the Justice Minister?”
Adding more fuel to the debate is the fact that County Superintendent also signed even though she works directly under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Eyebrows are now being raised and questions are now being asked whether Johnson-Morris’ letter to the President under the signature of the then Minster of Justice was deliberately left out of the signing in the same norm as Labor Minister Samuel Kofi Woods was ousted from the Firestone negotiations during defining moments of those talks.
In the absence of a participation from the Ministry of Justice, many are wondering who were the lawyers representing the government? Who represented LAC? On the contrary, some constitutional experts have pointed out that a key reason why Johnson Morris' letter is not particularly relevant to the framework agreement is because the framework agreement appears to be implementing a concession agreement, while Ms. Morris' letter was addressing the legality of the concession agreement in the first place. Apparently, LAC and Gyude Bryant did sign a concession agreement recognized by this government which has brought on this framework agreement.
Nevertheless, some say the presence of a signature of a senator, a member of the first branch of government, on a framework agreement signed with the executive branch of government continues to highlight Liberia’s immaturity in western constitutional democracy wherein the same individual who should be providing oversight of the framework agreement is involved in its negotiation and attestations.
Things ‘Need to Change’ - a former Veep Weighs in
In the midst of it all, opponents and supporters on both sides of the aisle remain baffled at how the crucial land issue was allowed to drag on for so long. Bennie Warner, a former Vice President to William Tolbert hopes that the current government do all it can to prevent the flaws that shaded previous concession agreements. “I do have a concern about the situation. First of all, I don’t like the killing, we want to denounce that, we want to say that it is wrong. If it was motivated by the recent plans to look into the contracts and all that is the wrong thing that was done because violence breeds violence and you cannot take violent means to achieve a good end.”
For now, Warner says the current concession and all other currently being studied needs a careful review so that this time around, people get a fair deal. “I would hate to see a repeat of firestone because the people that occupy that area in Firestone from Mount Barclay all the way to Marshall People were removed during President King’s time and the people never got any just compensation. Government did not provide any resettlement in terms of relocation and we know from history that Firestone exploited our people and in fact, the country. The country never got a fair deal out of that firestone thing. So once you look at history, so history can be a good thing and I would hate to see a repeat of that kind of exploitation that was done by Firestone.”
Warner believes the government should be wise enough to make some requirements for those concessions and put back into the country some reasonable guidelines and reasonable compensations in terms of education and improvements of the places. “By this time those concessions should have colleges and should give people more than just mere basic educational opportunities or semi-unskilled laborers. That’s what happened down in the Congo where the Belgians never gave the Congolese any education; the education level was just basic. So we have to learn from history so that we don’t continue the exploitation of the people. They should put in improved hospitals. Look at Firestone, there’s only one major hospital and it’s for the workers. That needs to change.”
Since the unfolding of the latest squabbles between LAC and the villagers, Sirleaf has said she seriously agonized on the apparent reckless violence recently unleashed by individuals that she described as ‘wishing to create unnecessary tension and terror in the country, with the objective to undermine efforts of the government to secure a peaceful and stable environment for all of its people and foreign residents’.
Realizing the potential the current crisis has to deter potential investors away from Liberia when she has been pleading for international support; Sirleaf has ordered in the strongest terms that the Justice authorities get to the bottom of the incident, in order to restore sanity, order and the rule of law in the area. “We want to reassure the general public that the weekend incident will not go unpunished; the perpetrators are being rounded up already and will face the full weight of the law at the earliest,” the President declared.
But despite the President’s declarations, Tarr says he considers the decision of the Government of Liberia to disregard the promises Sirleaf made to the elders of Grand Bassa County, including the undersigned, at a meeting the elders held with her on September 7, 2006, “as reflecting the decision to restore the repatriate hegemony, keep Liberia a polity divided by class.”
Sadly, after more than fourteen years of civil war, violence continues to linger in a nation struggling to pick up the pieces of war. Today, a Belgian expatriate is dead and an unsatisfied tribal group appear to be at a disadvantage, feeling somewhat cheated over - of all things, their “papa’s land. In a season of discontent for Bassa villagers, there may be a lot of blame to go around but many are hoping for a speedy end to the crisis as postwar Liberia seeks to put the ghost of yesteryears behind in hopes of closing a painful chapter - and keeping its never ending story from spilling over another boiling point.
